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The Sound of Opera

La cloche a sonné (Cigarette chorus)

At noon, the factory bell rings. The young men of Seville gather to watch the cigarette girls emerge from the factory, who sing about the intoxicating smoke from their cigarettes.

This track does not include the optional part "Sans faire les cruelles" because it is not in the original vocal score authorized by Bizet and it's also missing in open source orchestral scores. It's one of the parts that was cut by Bizet himself but unearthed by Fritz Oeser in the 1960s. As it became popular through his edition, it is nowadays included as an optional part in modern scores such as that by Robert Didion and Richard Langham Smith.

  • Soprani 1
  • Soprani 2
  • Tenors
  • Basses